Twitter users are now free to ramble away as the social media giant has removed the 140-character limit.
But, as noted by Twitter, this only applies for Direct Messages. Public posts or tweets, on the other hand, are still confined to the 140-character rule.
As explained by Sachin Agarwal, the product manager of Twitter, the move to take down the limitation is a way for the company to transform its social media site into a more personal and community-friendly communication tool.
Through its direct messaging feature, Twitter users will now be able to chat freely with their contacts to talk about anything. Although it still has a character limit, it is not as confining as the original rule. Instead of only 140, users can now send messages with up to 10,000 characters.
According to The Washington Post, the 140-character rule was established by Twitter based on the same limit applied on text messages. Although it is a good way of managing public posts, it restricts users from having natural private discussions.
Like the Facebook Messenger, Twitter's Direct Messages provided users a way to talk with one another in a private setting. Of course, they wouldn't be able to do that properly by focusing on how to shorten their messages in order to comply with the 140-character rule.
"While Twitter is largely a public experience, Direct Messages let you have private conversations about the memes, news, movements and events that unfold on Twitter," Agarwal wrote on the Twitter Blog.
"Each of the hundreds of millions of Tweets sent across Twitter every day is an opportunity for you to spark a conversation about what's happening in your world," he added. "That's why we've made a number of changes to Direct Messages over the last few months."
As mentioned by the product manager, the removal of the character limit is the latest improvement made by Twitter to its Direct Messages. Previously, the company gave users the option to send out private messages to groups. They were also allowed to communicate with other users, even though they're not following one another, through private messages.
The change regarding the character limit for Direct Messages began on August 12. Agarwal said it will apply to all Twitter platforms on the web and for the Android and iOS apps.
The roll out will continue over the next few weeks so for those who are still confined to the 140-rule in Direct Messages, they can expect to receive an update soon.
